The Last Benders - part 1
by xix5390
Summary: Kannai Waters, an average teenage girl (16 yrs old) that lives in Southern Watertribe, finds out she's the Avatar. Sent to Republic City by Avatar Korra, Kannai and friends-Heko (fire bender) and Lee (earth bender) must find and defeat The Fox- a decendant of Amon. Will the benders find their way to victory or will they lose their bending forever?


The Last Benders

**Part 1- The Fox **

_Listen, children. Have I told you about your great great great grandmother? No? Well it's time I told you. Your teachers taught you about your ancestors in _Bendingology _didn't they? Well then you know all about the Avatars, the most powerful benders in the world right? Well your great great great grandmother was an Avatar. To this day your teachers still don't know about Avatar Kannai. Our family keeps her a secret, the way she wants it to be like. She didn't want to be famous like the other Avatars._

_The story began on her first day at _Tai Ji Quan class_…_

The wind blew in Kannai's face as she rode on her giant White Tiger, Xue. She didn't want to be late for her first day at school. She jumped off as she neared a boy and a girl on the side of the road.

"Come on, Kannai. We're going to be late! Heko and I have been waiting for hours!" said the girl excitedly. She had sleek black hair braided down her back, brown hazel eyes and a thin lip that was usually always in a smile, unless she was late for something, like today.

"It's only been fifteen minutes, Tanna," Heko insisted. He had ember eyes the color of fire, medium length brown kind of curly hair, and was hard to please.

"Well, it seemed like hours!" Tanna told him.

Kannai smiled, "Are we just going to stand here or are we going to start walking?"

"Kannai's right, we need to get moving," Heko agreed. They started for the school, a big huge igloo-like building built out of snow and ice. Legend said the Schoolhouse was built by Avatar Soibin and his friends. They walked by shopkeepers insisting on them buying whale meat and otter-penguin skin and some other expensive stuff that Kannai could never afford.

"You're late!" exclaimed their teacher, Master Mu. The three greeted him with "sorry"s and entered the schoolhouse. Kannai hanged her coat on the coat hanger in the back of the room and sat down at her seat marked with a sloppily written nametag.

"Don't bother hanging your coat up, you two," he told Heko and Tanna as they reached the coat hangers. We're going to start with a bit of Tai Ji Quan. Tai Ji Quan is a form of water bending."

"But none of us are water benders, and you said last year the benders were long gone, other than that air bender dude at Republic City," one student said.

"Well, it's also a good exercise in the morning." Everyone grabbed their coats and headed outside to the court yard.

"The first move I will teach you is called the water bubble. Copy my movements." He formed his hands so it looked like he was carrying a big invisible bubble, Kannai did the same. A movement beside her caught her eyes. The snow was moving! She put her hands down quickly.

"Master Mu, I'm not feeling well; I'm just going to sit down," She told her teacher.

"Go ahead," he said, so Kannai sat down inside. Her friends came to her side.

"Are you alright?" Tanna asked worriedly.

"I'm more than alright, I'm a water bender!" the two sixteen year olds gasped.

"Well, I've been keeping something from both of you. Now that Kannai found out she's a water bender…" Heko's ember eyes looked with uncertainty.

"Spill it," Tanna said.

"I'm a fire bender," Heko finally said.

"Well I could finally say this," Tanna let out a sigh of relief. "I'm an earth bender!"

"This is weird," Heko mused. "Why are three benders here when the last of our kind was gone years ago?"

"Maybe they're not gone," Kannai guessed. "Maybe they're hiding. Remember that big war with the benders and non-benders? They thought all the benders were dead but they weren't sure?"

"Right. But if there are benders around then there must be an Avatar. I wonder who it is." Heko wondered.

"We could ask the monks!" Tanna exploded out loud.

"But how do we get there?" Heko asked.

"We could take Xue; she's a good swimmer and flier," Kannai suggested.

"We can't let anyone know about this until were sure about everything," Heko told them quietly.

That night they met at their usual spot under a cliff behind Kannai's home. They were all carrying bags filled with necessities they need for the trip to the Southern Air Temple.

"Every climb on Xue and hang on," Kannai whispered. They climbed onto Xue's saddle and hanged on to the seat belt tightly. The White Tiger lifted herself off the ground and they were airborne. She was born with the ability to fly, which was freaky and weird.

"Which way are we supposed to go?" Kannai asked.

"Northeast according to the map," Heko answered. Tanna was already asleep. "How have you been? I haven't seen you the whole summer break, not that summer was any warmer."

"Grandma's really sick and ever since Dad died Mom just hasn't been the same. I had to do the cleaning, cooking, laundry, shopping and take care of everyone," Kannai answered.

"Wow. All I have to do is my chores and making sure my little brothers don't get into too much trouble. But they're bookworms so mostly they're at the library reading." Heko had two smaller twin brothers about four years younger than him. Usually little twin brothers are very troublesome but not Ping and Ling. Give them a book and they won't bother you at all.

"You're lucky then."

"I guess so." They were silent for they rest of the trip, with the occasional cough or a clear of throats. Just as Tanna was waking up they saw land in the distance.

"Trees!" was the first thing anybody had said for hours and it had to be Tanna that said it first. Since they lived in the South Pole all they saw was snow, snow, and more snow. "Green is my utmost favorite color now."

In the distance were rows and rows of trees stretching into the horizon, the first stream of sunlight making it even greener than it was before. Beyond the trees was a mountain. Resting on the mountain was the faint outline of the Southern air temple.

"There it is!" Kannai exclaimed. "That's where we want to be."

In less than an hour they had arrived at the temple. It was filled with monks, but these monks weren't air bending monks, they were non-benders even though they accepted benders during the war with grace.

When the monks saw them they went into a panic attack. Some screamed, some ran, but some just stood their ground and looked up at them.

"Who are you?" a monk below them asked. He seemed to be at peace and looked like he was in charge.

"We have some questions for you and we promise we come in peace," Kannai told him.

"We have been expecting you, come with me. There's no need for questions; we already know of what you came here for," the trio landed on the ground along with Xue. They followed the monk down a series of stairs, into a building, and up some stairs, finally ending up in a room with a good view over the mountain. The room was a medium sized round room with a long table across the middle filled with toys. Around the table were more monks. "You each pick four toys, no more, no less."

In no time they had picked their favorites. The monk examined what they picked. First he looked a Tanna's choice. They were a funny looking rock, a mole made out of dried mud, a piece of metal that looked like the shape of a star, and a long stick.

"Ah, you will be a strong earth bender," the monk said confidently. Then he moved onto Heko. Heko picked a match, a piece of wood, a charred stick, and a bear shaped piece of coal.

"Very interesting future, fire bender," he mused. He gasped when he got to Kannai's four choices. She had picked a clay turtle, a pull string propeller, a wooden monkey, and a wooden hand drum.

"You have an important part of history to play, Avatar," the whole room was silent as everyone watched Kannai's reaction.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Very," he answered. "Do you accept?"

Kannai thought for a moment. "How do you know?"

"You picked the same toys the past Avatars have all picked. We thought the Avatar would choose the toys that were the most familiar to him or her from their past lives," he explained.

"If you're so sure," Kannai answered. "Then I accept my role as the Avatar."

"Kannai," Heko asked. "Are you sure? This might be the most important decision you will ever make."

"Yes." The room was still for a moment, then every knelt to the floor and bowed to her, even her two friends. She looked at them, her feelings all mixed up then she ran out of the room. She went down a flight of stairs, then another until finally she was alone on a balcony with only the ants as her company. She sat down on the ground and sobbed. She heard footsteps and the sound of someone sitting down beside her. She felt Heko's strong hand on her shoulder.

"Kannai, it's okay. Even if you're the Avatar you still have Tanna and I by your side." Kannai didn't respond but buried her head into his chest. Heko stroked Kannai's hair. Her feelings were so messed up and she didn't know what to do! They remained like this for hours until Kannai cried herself out and calmed down.

"Heko, what do you do if you find out that you are the most powerful person in the world, everyone's bowing down at you- even your own best friends- and the fate of the world is in your hands?" Kannai asked.

"I'll know that my friends are on my side and will always watch out for me. And that my family will be rooting me on."

"But I can't let my mother and Grandma know about this. They've already got enough on their minds." Kannai suddenly sat up. "Who will look after them while I'm learning all the elements?"

"I will," answered a familiar voice behind them. They turned to find Tanna leaning on the doorframe.

"I can't ask that of you!" Kannai exclaimed.

"I'll do it, for my friend and the Avatar."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely," she said confidently.

"Then take Xue. She knows how to get home."

"I have already told the monks. They said I can take one of their sky bison."

"I can never thank you enough!" Kannai hugged Tanna. "I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too! I better get going," Tanna exclaimed as the last ray of the sun disappeared under the horizon. "Your family will be wondering what happened."

"Don't tell them anything, just say I am in good hands," Kannai shouted as the sky bison lifted of the ground a while later.

"Okay!" they watched the sky bison disappeared into the night until it was only a tiny dot in the distance, and then they went to their rooms to prepare for bed. But Kannai couldn't sleep. In her mind she replayed her day and how she found out she was the Avatar. Finally her mind couldn't take anymore and she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

In the morning Kannai woke up with the sound of birds in her ears. She felt something wet on her face and opened her eyes to get another lick from her best friend, "Xue, stop it! I'm getting up!" She laughed and wiped her face with her blanket. Just then she heard a knock at her door.

"Hey, Kannai. Are you decent?"

"Just a minute!" She put on her robe and slid opened the door. Standing there was Heko.

"I… ah… just wanted to tell you that breakfast's in half an hour."

"Okay, I'll be ready." Kannai closed the door, changed into a light blue long sleeve hoodie and jeans and headed down the hall when she realized she didn't know where to go. The hallways were deserted. After looking around she decided to go to the courtyard. She went up a flight of stairs and turned left. In front of her was a big door with swirly designs and three holes. Kannai loved to figure things out so she figured that you had to blow air through the holes to unlock the door. She had never tried air bending but after watching a video of people air bending at school she decided to give it a try. There was no one around so the only person she would be embarrassing would be herself. She moved her hand in a circular motion the thrust her hands forward. Three gusts of air came out of her hand, each into one of the holes. The middle button turned and the door slowly creaked open. Inside were statues of different benders from her history book. They were the past Avatars!

"Wow!" Kannai gasped to herself. She followed the circle round and round, admiring the statues. Once or twice she found herself staring at a famous Avatar she knew about. The one she really admired was Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra. Aang had ended the hundred year's war and learned how to take people's bending away. Korra had learned how to give people's bending back and defeated a blood bending, water bender, Amon, who could take people's bending away. Kannai noticed that she and Avatar Korra had a lot in common. They both had dark skin, dark brown hair, pure ocean blue eyes, big muscles, taller than the average height of girls their age, and came from the Southern Water Tribe. The only thing that separated them is their styles of hair and their attitudes. Kannai had strands of hair braided on the left side of her head but she parted her hair on the same side Avatar Korra did. Kannai's attitude is usually like Korra's except she didn't have as much confidence when it came to standing up to someone she was afraid of.

"Kannai!" Heko came up behind her. "We've been looking all over for you. I was so worried. I thought you ran off somewhere!"

"I found this room," Kannai answered without taking her eyes off of the statue of Avatar Korra. "I feel so peaceful here for some reason. And look, that's Avatar Soibin, the Avatar before me. He's the one that built our schoolhouse. Then in front of me is Avatar Korra. She has so much in common with me…"

"Avatar Kannai! How did you gain access to this room? You told us you haven't even mastered water bending yet!" the monk, named Makka exclaimed behind them.

"Master Mu showed us a video of people bending and I copied the moves of an air bender, awesome right!?" Kannai asked excitedly.

"Yes," Makka mused. Come with me. Today's your first lesson at water bending…"

"That was the coolest thing in the world!" Kannai exclaimed as she headed for dinner. "I was like, so good!"

"You're a natural water bender," Heko answered. "But you still have to learn three more elements."

Kannai and Heko found out there were millions of bender refugees under the mountain and she had beaten even the best water bending masters and passed her test on the third day. Tomorrow they were going to teach her earth bending.

"I'm going to pass earth bending in a flash!" Kannai said confidently and she was right. Earth bending was mastered in a matter of days. It was the same with fire bending; but not so much for air bending.

"What is wrong with me? I was able to make air when I opened those doors. Why can't I now?" Kannai asked in a frustrated tone.

"You and Avatar Korra have a lot in common. She was not able to air bend for a long period of time; due to her lack of patience," Makka explained.

"Well then, call me Korra because I don't have the patience either. Especially since I mastered the other elements so fast and they came so easily to me!" Kannai said angrily and stormed out of the room. She ran up flights of stairs and down hallways until she came to the Avatar room. It was unlocked so she ran inside with a lantern and closed the door. She walked straight to the statue of Avatar Korra and sat down at the foot of the statue.

"Korra, if you know how to get over this air bending stumbling block then please help me!" Kannai thought. She crossed her legs, put her fists together, and closed her eyes; sitting in her meditating position. First she was just sitting there then suddenly she opened her eyes. They were glowing! In her mind she saw flashes of Korra's past, republic city, the air temple, pro-bending, and her friends, Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Tenzin. She felt the wind blowing in her face as she rode Naga, Korra's Polar bear dog, the urgency when Bolin was captured, and the pain of Amon's blood bending grip. Then everything disappeared and Kannai was in the middle of a forest. In front of her were the past Avatars, all seventy-four of them. At the front was Korra.

"It seems we have a lot in common. I could see your future has a lot of the same events that were in mine."

"Well yes, but…"

"Your air bending? Well, at desperate times of need you will discover how to gain what you have not. The answer will come to you if you think hard enough," the Avatars started to disappear.

"Wait! What about …"

"Go to Republic City, your destiny awaits you there!" and with that Avatar Korra disappeared. And Kannai was back to the Avatar room.

"Go to Republic City?" Kannai wondered. "Well fine!" Kannai said angrily even though she didn't know what she was angry about anymore.

Just then the doors opened. In came Makka, "Avatar Kannai, you can't just walk off like that. You're the Avatar and you have a responsibility to the world."

"Yes, got that. I just had a talk with Avatar Korra and she told me to go to Republic City."

"You connected with the Avatars already? This is strange," Makka mused. "And Republic City? That place is dangerous especially for a girl like you. But since Avatar Korra told you to go there then we have no choice."

The next morning Kannai and Heko were on top of Xue and were flying over the ocean heading for Republic City. The sky was starting to brighten as the first streak of light slowly pushed itself away from the horizon and into the sky above. In a few hours they saw land, land at last!

"That's Republic City!" Kannai exclaimed.

"It's so grand!" Heko gasped.

"I see the air temple," Kannai pointed at an ancient building rested on an island. They saw air bison and air bender kids riding airballs around. An air bender guy about fifty years old was trying to guide the kids into a doorway but they kept playing.

"Kids, how many times do I have to tell you, it's time for dinner!" The guy yelled.

"But, dad, we're not hungry!" a little boy wined. There were three kids in all; two boys and a girl. The girl was the oldest, the boys were twins. The girl was about 10 and the boys 8. When they saw the flying tiger naturally they freaked and airballed inside.

"Welcome," Jengli said as they landed. "Sorry about the kids."

"You seem… familiar," Kannai said.

"I do look very much alike to my great great great great great great grandfather, Avatar Aang.

"Oh! Your great… how many greats grandfather was _me_? I mean…" Kannai was at a loss for words.

"Yes, very true."

"That's freaky!" Heko said. "Freakily awesome!"

Jengli invited them inside where an anxious middle-aged woman was waiting for them.

"This is my wife, Ren. Ren, this is Avatar Kannai and her friend, Heko," Jengli introduced.

"Hey," Kannai said casually.

"Hi," Heko greeted.

"Well, it's time for dinner so follow me," Ren led them down a hallway and into a small room with a dinner table and mats around it. The three kids were sitting at the table, fighting over a comic book.

"I got to it first so it's mine!"

"But I bought it with my own money so it's mine!"

"I'm the youngest so it's mine!

"We were born at the same time so you're not the youngest!"

"It's still mine!"

"Kids!" Ren shouted.

"Mom!" they all cried in surprise.

"Do you want to meet the Avatar or not?"

"Oh boy, it's the Avatar!" they all charged towards Kannai.

"Um… hi!" Kannai said.

"Kids, don't swarm the Avatar please. It's not nice. Go to your seats because we're having dinner…" Ren walked towards the three children and Kannai turned her attention to Jengli and Heko. The two guys were in a deep conversation about benders and non-benders.

"The Fox strikes again!" Heko gasped quietly. "So he's here in Republic city?"

"I'm afraid so. That's why we wanted the Avatar to stay away but now that she's here she'll have to stay. I reckon he already knows the Avatar's here and want to keep it that way," Jengli said. Then he noticed that I was listening and stopped talking.

After dinner was the first time Kannai had to herself for days. She made sure that everyone was asleep before she crept outside. She took a stroll around the island and sat down on the edge of a cliff on a big rock. She leaned her back on the rock behind her. This was the longest time she hadn't thought about the secret.

Always the secret.

The secret of how her father died.

The secret of how her grandma was going to die.

The secret of why she was going to die… soon.

Of course her mother didn't know about this. Even her father didn't know. But she knew. She knew and her grandma knew. Well her grandma knew until she had that stroke. The stroke that ruined her life. She looked into the horizon where the last rays of the sun disappeared and where the moon leaps into the sky every night. She thought back the seven months and fourteen days ago when _it_ happened…

"Kannai, darling, what are you sitting there for? You're supposed to be all dressed in black, ready for the funeral," it was her grandma.

"It's not fair! This is so stupid! Why do people have to go to a funeral when they are already dying of sadness?" Kannai shouted angrily at the wall, not turning to face her favorite relative and the most understanding one at that. "It's not fair." She repeated quietly.

"I think it's time I told you about your family secret. Even your father and mother does not know. It's about a curse a fire bender placed on the family eons ago. And it will probably never break. Once in a life time we had an ancestor who was best friends with a fire bender. That was before the Hundred Year War. When the war started our ancestor, Kaishi was picked to be a great general. The fire bender friend was picked to be the smallest soldier in the army. All he got to do was the clean up job after battles. Finally when the fire bender was involved in a battle it was the battle of Basinsei. One of the soldiers got sick so he had to fill him in. And guess what? He met Kaishi face to face right in the middle of a battle. Kaishi wouldn't back down because he was so loyal but the fire bender was distracted by the thought that Kaishi would spare him since they were childhood friends, but he didn't. When Kaishi delivered the death blow the fire bender cursed him. The curse was called…"

"Kannai!" Kannai sat bolt upright and turned. Behind her stood Heko.

"What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Kannai asked.

"Well look who's talking?" Heko grinned. So did Kannai. Then their smiles disappeared.

"How much did you hear?" Kannai asked fearfully. Heko sat down on the rock beside her.

"Not much, it was kinda weird but I don't wish to intrude." They sat in silence for awhile.

"I trust you. Do you really want to know?"

"Only if you wish to tell me."

"Well…" Kannai whispered something into his ear. Heko stared at her in horror.

"You mean…?" Heko asked. Kannai nodded.

"Oh!" Heko looked into Kannai's icy blue eyes. He studied her for a moment. The strand of hair that always fell into her face, her silver earrings in the shape of water droplets, her icy blue eyes that pierced into him like she already knew all his secrets just by looking at him, and the strands of hair braided and tucked into the mess of her coffee colored hair.

A smile began to appear on her lips; one that was sweet but also tinged with sadness. Every time Heko looked at her his heart would do a little dance and his body would get that warm feeling you get when your mom kisses you on the forehead and tucked you in a night. Their lips got closer and closer. Kannai closed her eyes. Suddenly an owl hooted in the distance and Kannai looked away.

"Heko, I…" she was on the verge of crying now.

"It's gonna be alright," Heko murmured.

"No it's not. You know what's coming just that _it_ won't happen for a while…" she groaned and put her hand on her forehead. Her face paled and her eyes widened. The pain was horrible. "Ugh! Heko, _it's_ starting. Just like Dad." Heko put his arms around her and looked into the night.

"I'll be here for you when that happens, I promise." And they remained like that for hours, finally falling asleep to the never ending creaking of the crickets, and the constant hooting of owls.

Kannai's eyes slowly opened. She tried to sit up but she couldn't move. She looked down and gasped. Her hands and feet were bounded to a metal operation table. "Help!" she yelled. "Is there anyone there?"

"Kannai?" Kannai's head swerved to her right and she saw…

"Heko!" Kannai gasped. "What happened?"

"There were these men that crept up to us while we're asleep. I tried to fight them off but they had these strange gloves. The gloves could shoot out electricity. Before I knew it they had electrocuted me and I blacked out." He looked down and saw the situation they were in. "Man, we're in trouble."

"Aren't we all!" cried a voice to Kannai's left. She turned and saw a boy about sixteen years old, the same age as her, in the same situation as Kannai and Heko. "I'm Lee, what's your name?"

"I'm Kannai and this is Heko," Kannai said.

"You're Avatar Kannai?" Lee exclaimed. "Pleasure to meet you, lovely Avatar!"

Heko mad a sour face at that comment. Lee was strong looking and had this crazy grin on his face like everything he said was a joke. "What are we doing here?" Kannai asked.

"Well, The Fox probably captured you because you're the Avatar…"

"The Fox?" Heko gasped. "No way! This is bad."

"And…" Lee continued. "That guy must be a bender of some kind. He looks like a fire bender to me. The Fox captured me 'cause I'm an earth bender. He doesn't like benders. He captures them and takes their bending away. Legend says he is descended from Amon, the guy that almost took Avatar Korra's bending away." He looked around nervously and added in a whisper, "History is repeating itself!" Just then the lock clicked and the door slid open.

A man in a black cloak stepped through the doorway. "The Fox wants to see you." He said. The man reached out a hand covered by a weird looking glove.

"No!" Heko exclaimed. Too late did Kannai realize what was happening. Blue streaks of electricity wrapped themselves around Kannai and she screamed. Then the world went black leaving a burning smell in the air.

Kannai regained consciousness the moment she hit the ground. She heard a door close and she opened her eyes. For a moment Kannai thought she was blind, and then she realized there wasn't any light. She opened her palm and slowly, a fire appeared on her hands, and then it quickly snuffed out as a wave of pain hit her.

"Uh!" she gasped. Then she nodded to the thoughts that appeared in her mind. _I'm not supposed to bend. I have to try to stay alive and resist _it_, _she thought.

Kannai felt around blindly until her fingers met contact with the cold hard walls. She kept one hand on the wall and put her other arm out in front of her just in case she come to a corner and squish her face into something. But she was met with no resistance and she stumbled along. Finally she saw light up ahead and she stumbled towards it. She found the handle of the door and pushed with all her might. Suddenly she wasn't in the tunnel anymore. She was in a big gigantic storage room of some kind.

"Whoa!" Kannai exclaimed. For as far as the eye could see there were boxes and boxes and more boxes filled with junk. In the middle was a red carpet that led to a throne. As Kannai got closer she saw who was sitting on the throne. The man was pretty shadowy with a cloak that covered half his face. The only feature on hi face that she could see was his lips and a great big scar right across his face from his what Kannai assumed was his left eye to the right tip of his lip.

"Welcome, Avatar, to my humble home," the man said. "I am The Fox, as many call me. Please, take a seat."


End file.
